What should I wear?
When women come out on Breeze rides, the conversation often turns to ‘what should I wear’. While it’s possible to spend a fortune on cycling gear, it’s not necessary.
See my other post on second-hand cycling gear.
So, what is essential?
We’ll all have different views on what’s essential.
Bottom Half
Padded shorts… Having some padding when you’re on the saddle is a very good idea. I’ve always worn padded cycle shorts, but recently chatted with a woman who has never worn padded cycle shorts, but loves her padded saddle and cycles hundreds of miles a year. So, the answer is definitely padding of some sort, and here we’ll talk about padded shorts.
So, you can imagine, things are never simple… But in case you’re worried, you don’t have to wear lycra…
Here are some of your options when it comes to shorts.
- padded liner shorts. With a pair of padded liner shorts, you can still wear shorts or leggings that you already own on top of the padded liner shorts. Here are some examples of different styles – https://www.tredz.co.uk/cycling-shorts-under-shorts.
- baggy shorts (often described as mountain-bike shorts). These come in varying lengths and some come with padded short liners, and others you might need to buy short liners separately if you don’t already have some. https://www.tredz.co.uk/cycling-shorts-baggy-shorts
- padded lycra shorts. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of lycra… https://www.tredz.co.uk/cycling-shorts-lycra
- bib shorts.
Shorts come in a range of lengths including longer shorts often described as 3/4 cycling leggings. Which takes us on to leggings.
Leggings
Like shorts, cycling leggings can come with padding or be worn with padded liner shorts. So, if you’ve already got a pair of leggings, and don’t want to spend money on padded leggings, the simplest option might be to buy liner shorts that can be worn with shorts or leggings that you already own.Leggings usually come in full-length (good for winter) or three-quarter length
Top Half
You want to keep warm and dry. A good lightweight jacket if it’s going to wet or breezy, but nothing that’s too warm.
If you want to ride like a pro, get yourself a cycling top with pockets on the back… Handy for tissues and snacks.
Hands
The other bit of fairly important kit is a good pair of gloves. Most cycle gloves have a thin layer of padding sewn into the palm to ease the vibrations from the handlebars. If you’re cycling in cooler weather, gloves can keep your hands warm too. If you are unlucky enough to come off your bike you’ll be glad of a pair of gloves to protect your hands too.
Cycling gloves come in full-fingered and fingerless versions.
